Fact Check: Spirit Halloween Stores Sell 'Never Forget' 9/11 Family Costumes with the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and an Airplane?

Jordan Liles
·2 min read
A TikTok user named Matt Shaver posted a purported Never Forget family costume representing the September 11th terrorist attacks with the former World Trade Center and its twin towers as well as an airplane.
@mattxshaver/TikTok

Claim:

A TikTok video authentically documents that Spirit Halloween sold a set of "Never Forget" 9/11 family costumes that included outfits for the former World Trade Center's twin towers and an airplane.

Rating:

Rating: Labeled Satire
Rating: Labeled Satire

In late October 2023, a TikTok user named Matt Shaver posted a video that he recorded while standing in front of a Spirit Halloween store, saying that he had just purchased a product labeled "Never Forget Family Costume" that referenced the 9/11 terrorist attacks and included outfits representing the former World Trade Center's twin towers and an airplane.

"Ok, so I just left Spirit Halloween, and can somebody tell me why I was able to buy this costume?," Shaver asked. "Look at this. Is that the twin towers? And the plane? You gotta be kidding me!"

The video was viewed more than 6 million times in less than a week.

However, the truth was that Shaver's TikTok account identified him as a comedian whose content is all about jokes and satire. He added a "parody" hashtag to the video's caption and commented under the video, "Y'all, it’s a joke."

For readers unfamiliar with Spirit Halloween, every year around the beginning of fall, American and Canadian consumers bear witness to the seemingly sudden pop-up nature of the well-known chain of stores. The stores primarily sell Halloween costumes, decorations, makeup and accessories.

Spirit Halloween stores take on short leases at retail spaces that previously were vacant, such as buildings that were formerly occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney, Sears or Toys R Us, for example. Basically, a previously-occupied, empty commercial space briefly comes back to life for a few months to offer shoppers plenty of ideas for the spookiest holiday of the year.

Sources:

Bassboy818. “Spirit Halloween Costume Idea.” r/EveryoneIsGoingToHell via Reddit.com, Oct. 28, 2023, www.reddit.com/r/EveryoneIsGoingToHell/comments/17ioetk/spirit_halloween_costume_idea/.

Blake, Talia. “Do Popup Stores like Spirit Halloween Trick-or-Treat Florida’s Economy?” WMFE, Oct. 31, 2023, https://www.wmfe.org/economy/2023-10-31/do-popup-stores-like-spirit-halloween-trick-or-treat-floridas-economy.

“Company Information: The Spirit Advantage.” Spirit Halloween, https://www.spirithalloween.com/content.jsp?pageName=SpiritDiff.

@mattxshaver. “TikTok Took This down so I’m Posting It Again.” TikTok, Oct. 26, 2023, https://www.tiktok.com/@mattxshaver/video/7294714135386819870.

Nguyen, Janet. “Spirit Halloween Capitalizes on Empty Stores, Short Leases.” Marketplace.org, Oct. 29, 2021, https://www.marketplace.org/2021/10/29/vacant-real-estate-spirit-halloweens-favorite-haunt/.

“September 11 Attacks.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks.